You Can't Shop Your Way Out of Climate Change

We have seen a boom in “eco-friendly” products marketed to consumers’ concerns about the impact of the stuff we buy. But this "shop ‘til you drop” approach doesn’t solve the bigger issue: overconsumption and overproduction are the key drivers of pollution and climate change. Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant looks at how “greenwashed” products might be doing more harm than good.

Based on the book by Jenny Price. 

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[normzemke]

The huge question which is never answered is "how can we restructure society to consume less?" The rich fight against change. The middle class is largely complacent. The poor are too busy scrambling to make ends meet.

[adpirtle]

People don't like to admit that actually dealing with this crisis will require radical changes in behavior from governments, corporations, and consumers. It's much easier to tell ourselves we can still live the same lives we always have.

[ldbarthel]

The problem is that equilibrium is seen as stagnation or failure in capitalist economies. All these MBAs who have been advocating for growth every quarter since the 1980s have ignored one of the basic lessons in high school economics: the law of diminishing returns.

Unrestricted growth is the modus operandi of cancer cells.

[Enn-]

Thank you! Unending consumerism feels more like a disease, than a measure of a healthy economy.

[TruthTrustScience]

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

[sunmarsh]

1. Refuse: Don’t buy things you don’t need.
2. Reduce: Buy less of the products you do need.
3. Reuse: Buy used products and give them a new life.
4. Repurpose: Find creative ways to use the products you already have.
5. Recycle: Contribute to the circular economy. Donate, sell, or recycle what you can’t use.

[patrickfitzgerald]

Finally, a US public service media source reports the unvarnished truth . . . well done PBS!

[bradliston]

I feel like the "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" really stuck with me as a kid. I'll wear my shoes til they have holes in the sole because ... why would I buy new ones before these ones are used up?

Also, super un-popular with the older generations, but my wife and I opted out of having kids along these reasons. You wanna save the planet, stop creating a demand for all this garbage.

[Celeste-in-Oz]

Agree with the central point. But it’s frustrating to hear the repeated “we” …when citizens have been calling for systemic change for years and decision makers refuse to listen, or green-wash at best.

[hata]

I feel like, sometimes, we are just too tired, overworked, exhausted, burnt out and depressed to really face these predicaments, but simply yearning and seeking temporary relieves and comforts from consumption. In some correlation to this, I agree completely that it's not individual decisions but on larger scales of the living space, the city, the country we're living in.

[Beryllahawk]

And the "buy green" marketing once again places all the onus on the consumer to change the world, whilst the folks actually responsible for wreaking destruction continue to sip mimosas in their nice penthouses.
As has been said before in this series, we gotta use the power we do have. Buy carefully, research companies and products if you can. And vote.

[joshuaharper]

There is a reason why the 3 R's began with reduce and reuse. Recycling is dependent on economic factors outside the typical consumer's control, but consuming less, repairing what can be repaired, and repurposing things that can't be fully repaired (e.g. torn jeans into shorts or cleaning rags or pieces for a denim quilt) goes much farther toward doing some good. My individual contribution is minuscule, but it does help a little--especially if it catches on. Of course the big policy decisions will make the biggest difference, but I don't have much influence over them!

[AnonymousFreakYT]

People always seem to forget that the phrase is "_REDUCE_, Reuse, Recycle."

Yes, if you're going to buy a brand new car, buying an EV will be better for the environment than a gasoline vehicle, long term.

Buying a used EV is even better.

Continuing to use an older, efficient gas car is even better than that.

But best of all is - drive less. If you live in a city that has reliable public transit, use that! Walk! Bicycle!

(All that said, I'm disappointed at PBS for pushing the FUD statement that EV batteries are "waste" at the end of a vehicle's life - batteries are some of the *MOST* recycled/recyclable materials we use. That Tesla battery won't just be thrown in a landfill. It will be used in stationary power systems, then rebuilt, then finally all its components recycled. Almost none of it will end up in a landfill.)

[jannetteberends]

I accidentally do consume less. Don’t have a car, because I like to read. And you can’t read while driving. Don’t like meat or fish, always loved beans and vegetables more. Don’t go in Hollidays anymore, because it’s to stressful.

[PotteryLife]

It is well established that an EVs have a higher upfront CO2 footprint when compared to ICE vehicles. However EV vehicle lifetime emissions (factored) are much less than ICE (obviously).

[theotherohlourdespadua]

The greenwashing is what ticks me off. As an amateur bookbinder, I haven't bought or used any newly made paper, cardstock, or leather for my works; all of them are purchased from thrift stores and salvaged from garbage piles. Most of the pages I used for my works are either very old stock that even the stores themselves don't have inventory of or used paper like paper bags or discarded thesis papers.

Looking at the "green" options like journals made with bamboo covers (while being spiral bound), it just reeks of PR speak trying to spin barely revised products like it's a trendsetter for sustainability. There is nothing "green" about journals with wooden covers and are spiral bound, it's just a lazy reskin...

[DreadEnder]

This product is great for the environment!
-the company that makes the product.

[jordanfarr]

PBS has become so brave over the years.

I hope the US comes around, but I'm still shopping around for jobs outside here.

[acard]

The main problem here is capitalism. Something of which we can't get rid off overnight, sadly.

[gabrielfair]

Nobody is trying to fix the root problems we have in this country. Everyone is stuck focusing on making enough money so that the problems don't apply to them anymore.